Search form

Cattle and cotton rallied in the face of general ag weakness last

A diminished South Korean tender may have undercut corn futures Tuesday night. A large South Korean firm was interested in buying over 200,000 tonnes of corn last night, but ended up buying ‘just’ 189,000. Their unwillingness to pay up for the whole tranche, may be the reason corn futures have declined this morning. May corn sank 3.25 cents to $4.8325/bushel overnight, while December slid 3.5 to $4.8275.

Soybeans and meal dipped overnight, while oil posted modest gains. The soy complex lacked for news again last night, which seemed to throw traders back onto technical and pragmatic considerations. Ultimately, while the nearby bean contracts are trading above significant technical support, prices seem unlikely to challenge recent highs prior to next Monday’s hugely important Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks reports. Asian palm strength is supporting oil once again. May soybeans fell 6.75 cents to $14.2125/bushel early Wednesday morning, while May soyoil gained 0.11 cents to 40.85 cents/pound, and May soymeal lost $2.1 to $461.6/ton.

The wheat markets were mixed to lower last night. Little fresh news concerning wheat emerged overnight, although talk of a free-trade zone between Russian and Egypt may have weighed upon prices in competing export nations. As in the other crop markets, traders are probably reluctant to be very aggressive ahead of Monday’s big USDA reports. May CBOT wheat futures slipped 4.75 cents to $7.035/bushel in early Wednesday action, while May KCBT wheat futures slumped 4.0 cents to $7.8775 and May MWE futures skidded 2.5 cents to $7.605.

Cash strength sent cattle futures higher Tuesday night. News of firm cash trading provided a modest boost for the cattle market yesterday. Those southern Plains reports were followed by news of a $2.00/cwt advance in Nebraska prices later in the day, which almost surely powered CME prices higher overnight. April cattle futures jumped 1.12 cents to 145.50 cents/pound in predawn Wednesday action, while August gained 0.30 cents to 134.20. Meanwhile, April feeder cattle rallied 0.25 cents to 177.60 cents/pound, and August advanced 0.42 to 179.87.

Hog futures may still be suffering from technical selling. Talk of cash and wholesale weakness seemingly triggered a big technical sell-off in hog futures Tuesday. However, the afternoon reports proved much more supportive than was seemingly anticipated. That seemed likely to spark an overnight bounce, so today’s early weakness may signal continued technical sales. April hog futures declined 0.07 cents to 121.47 early Wednesday morning, while June skidded 0.07 to 125.12.

Cotton futures continued rallying in the wake of Tuesday’s ginnings data. Ongoing equity strength is probably supporting the cotton market at this point, but Tuesday’s huge ICE rally was triggered by the latest USDA Cotton Ginnings report. It indicated recent activity well below expectations, thereby suggesting the U.S. situation is tighter than previously thought. May cotton leapt 2.84 cents to 96.95 cents/pound just after sunrise (EDT) Wednesday, but December cotton dropped 0.24 to 80.06.